Re: Recording Canceled By The System

*sigh* this is the problem I'm having as well..(DCT3416 I)...came here hoping to find answers....bummer.

What I don't understand is that there are a TON of threads regarding this problem (series recordings set are NOT recording for some unknown/unidentifiable reason), yet in not ONE of these threads have I seen a moderator respond, or anyone from Comcast acknowledge and/or address this issue.

HELLO COMCAST.......it seems you have MANY unhappy customers here! Does Comcast just NOT CARE??????

Ok, so, like other posters have said, it's possible they just don't know what the problem is, and as other posters have said, it's difficult to correct (or duplicate to correct) a software problem if it is not consistent.

SO, if comcast's only answer to this issue has been to reset or swap out your box with a new one, WHY haven't they taken ALL of these supposedly "defective" boxes, plug them in/hook 'em up and set recordings that THEY can monitor to try and identify the problem? DO they not have a signal to their own service anywhere?? Seriously, they should be collecting all these boxes that customers have turned in, specifically due to this problem, put them in a room with a few of their technicians and software designers and FIGURE IT OUT!

It's the LEAST they can do considering ALL the money they make off of US, their COMCAST customers!!

Re: Recording Canceled By The System

Is it certain times or channels? Comcast knows there is a problem. I don't think that it's the boxes, I think it's a software problem. I want to know why there is even an option for a program "being canceled by the system". Who programmed that option in there? Why don't they just delete it?

I guess this will be one of those problems.

My area rep told me that one of the engineers would call me back - good thing I didn't hold my breath because that was months ago.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

My latest: my Internet and phone keep dropping intermittently. Tech coming today. To keep this on topic: haven't had cancel problems in some time, BUT, latest is while watching a playback or live TV, the video freezes and only way to unfreeze is do an unplug reset . I try things so as to not have to unplug. Next time I am thinking of unplugging the HDMI cable to see if video resets that way . I am getting tired of Comcast problems. Just when you think things are finally getting better, something else starts up.

Re: Recording Canceled By The System

It continues to happen to me occasionally, most recent was Tuesday 1/24/12 @ 8pm MST, when the DVR "decided" that I did not want to record 'Chopped'. I no longer trust the DVR to record anything; if I am home at the time a recording is due to start, I check it to make sure it begins. Pretty much defeats the purpose of setting up recordings ahead of time. There is no discernable pattern to when the system decides to cancel a recording.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

I'm having this same problem.. except.. it effects me EVERYTIME I hit record on a program that's on right now.. it just won't record it. it generally doesn't affect my schedule recordings...

i'm in michigan.. oddly enough the problems started after I moved the cable box to another room. using RG-6 coax the whole run, but I did switch to using an HDMI cable instead of the component cables...

My theory at this point is that comcast Does NOT want to fix this problem , nor will they fix it. Comcast wants people to use on-demand.. not the DVR's. .that's why comcast offers such pathetic tiny little DVR's compared to Dish network and others...

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work for comcat in the Michigan area and have a customer with this issue now. I am trying to re-create the issue in the local office here to try and troubleshoot it with our engineering group. I have a theory that if the DVR is set to record only "new" episodes (my customer is) and the program is not listed as new in our guide even if it truly is new it will not record it. Just a theory though. Unfortunatly i have not been able to re-create it here. Every time i set a recording it records the program fine. Any specifics would be appreciated and maybe i can fix it or at least get people involved on it.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

On my Moto dvr, if I'm watching something, I hit the record button on the remote, although it seems like a few times inthe past that only started recording from that point on (which is sometimes what I want). Alternatively, I can do "info", and then press the record icon on that screen. But yeah, I don't 100% believe it'll do what I want.

BTW, this amused me - a couple of months ago, I was getting dvr messages (the ads where the message light comes on) to the effect of "never want to miss a recording, get a dvr". I thought that was pretty ironic

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

Your theory about "new" programs" is unfortunately not true in my experience. I have had multiple, but sporadic, occurrences when the recording is "cancelled by the system" (as shown in the DVR history) and the show does show in the description as new. I have tried to find a commonality between the occurrences and haven't found one yet, although it does seem to happen more often when two shows are set to record at the same time. That should not be a problem since the DVR is designed to record on two tuners.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

Wow, it appears this has been a problem for quite some time. I came on here looking for answers and it appears there aren't really any good ones....lol.

After doing what customer service told me to do, unplugging it to basically "clear out the memory" or whatever, that seems to fix the problem for only a couple of weeks, then my shows started getting canceled again.

So I did the same thing and unplugged it, and this time it didn't help.

There is no rhyme or reason to whatever the system decides to cancel on its own.

I didn't go back and read every post here, but I wonder if swapping out the box is the solution or if the folks who swapped out their boxes ended up no longer having this problem or not.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

work for comcat in the Michigan area and have a customer with this issue now. I am trying to re-create the issue in the local office here to try and troubleshoot it with our engineering group. I have a theory that if the DVR is set to record only "new" episodes (my customer is) and the program is not listed as new in our guide even if it truly is new it will not record it. Just a theory though. Unfortunatly i have not been able to re-create it here. Every time i set a recording it records the program fine. Any specifics would be appreciated and maybe i can fix it or at least get people involved on it.

Thanks

That theory doesn't hold water with me. Some of the shows that I set up and get cancelled by the system are LISTED AS NEW. Others have been clearly labeled as REPEAT but those shows have been a rebroadcast of the ORIGINAL NEW SHOW (which was not recorded) a few hours later, which common practice on many networks. If I cannot record a new show on, for example Discovery ID at 9 pm Thursday (Sins and Secrets) due to recording 2 others at that time, I can set it up for 3 hours later at midnight. WHY are those repeated shows sometimes cancelled by the system?

I started this thread in October 2010. Comcast KNOWS about this issue. They know because of postings in this forum and from others who have called about it.

We have heard that others say Comcast will get the right people involved.

Comcast and the "right people" have NOT done anything to fix it.

If you can get the "right people" to fix it, more power to you.

Oh, btw, Comcast employees are not allowed to state or infer they are Comcast employees in the Help forums unless they have been approved by the forum administration to do so.

So far, the "right people" haven't done a thing.

Comcast employees must be authorized to post in the forum in an official capacity. Employees posting here have their names in red and are designated as employees. Names not in red are customers.

This is done to protect customers and for assurance that they are dealing with a Comcast employee.Non-Authorized Employees are allowed to post but cannot state they are employees nor can they allude to being employees.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

this happened again to me sunday night- ricky gervais show Life's too short season finale episode just didnt record. cancelled by the system! every other episode during the season recorded perfectly fine.

then again today before walking out to go food shopping i hit record on a show that was just starting, the recording started,it gave the dialog box Program has begun recording, so i left and when i came back home to watch the show was not on my dvr...looked it up in the history and it again had cancelled by the system!

this should not be happening for ANY REASON AT ALL no system,dvr or cable system should delete anything!

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

I've had the Recoding Cancelled By The System & Fatal Hardware Error on my DVRs for years now. Can't remember when specifically they started occuring but it seems like they increased more after I got my second DVR, a Motorolla DCX3416 (black) in Nov 2009. My first DVR was installed January 2007. It's a DCT6412(silver). I think the black one has 250 GB and the silver one 120 GB. I almost always record in HD. Both DVRs dual tuner and are hooked up to Panasonic LCD tvs via HDMI cables.

I've been through the troubleshooting process and like everyone else, can't determine the cause, nor has it been fixed.

Are their other brands of DVRs Xfinity offers that DON'T have this issue?

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

Approximately 30 minutes The First 48 went off. I got the remote, hit DVR/Recordings so I could watch it and IT WAS NOT THERE. I knew it had been set up to record because I double-checked just before 8pm and it was scheduled.

I look at the history and BINGO, there it was RECORDING CANCELLED BY THE SYSTEM.

Instead of watching something I really wanted to see, I was calling SYSTEM every name in the book and making up a few more.

Fortunately the episode will be repeated later tonight so I set it up to record then and I hope it does.

Comcast employees must be authorized to post in the forum in an official capacity. Employees posting here have their names in red and are designated as employees. Names not in red are customers.

This is done to protect customers and for assurance that they are dealing with a Comcast employee.Non-Authorized Employees are allowed to post but cannot state they are employees nor can they allude to being employees.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

So after all this time it's still happening. I don't know what they did here but we're not having THAT particular problem anymore. We're still having others but that one seems to have gone away for a bit.

Comcast employees must be authorized to post in the forum in an official capacity. Employees posting here have their names in red and are designated as employees. Names not in red are customers.

This is done to protect customers and for assurance that they are dealing with a Comcast employee.Non-Authorized Employees are allowed to post but cannot state they are employees nor can they allude to being employees.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

I had back-to-back episodes of a show set up to record at 1am and 1:30am.

These were the repeat episodes of a NEW SERIES which debuted last night earlier in the evening and I was not able to record the earlier episodes.

This morning I noticed only 1 of the episodes had been recorded. The other one shows up in history telling me YOU cancelled it. Why did you cancel the 1:30 airing?

So I go looking for it to be on again in the future. I found out it will be shown again on May 22nd.

System, please get some business so you can mind it and stay out of mine.

Comcast employees must be authorized to post in the forum in an official capacity. Employees posting here have their names in red and are designated as employees. Names not in red are customers.

This is done to protect customers and for assurance that they are dealing with a Comcast employee.Non-Authorized Employees are allowed to post but cannot state they are employees nor can they allude to being employees.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

The sad thing is that with all the advertising Comcast is doing for people to switch, making all these promises, they seem to spend little time doing system maintenance. And the reps STILL claim to not have heard about this problem.

Having been in computer programming for many years, it doesn't seem to be that tough off a problem to debug. I wonder if the right Comcast departments read these forums.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

It happened to me again last Wednesday when the system decided that I did not want to watch American Idol or Law and Order SVU. My TV wasn't even on, I wasn't watching anything else, etc. Other than cancelling Comcast and switching to Direct TV or something else, I have given up. I have two DVRs so I am now setting up recordings on both for shows I absolutely do not want to miss.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

Yeah, I had another one happen to me. Usually when I get this, it's a case of a show that's on multiple times and if one of those times is a conflict, I get this error. This time I got it on a normal (as in broadcast type) network. I didn't even realize it for a week or so, because it was one of those shows that I tape and then decide later if I care enough to watch.

I find it incredible that not only does this problem persist, but apparently Comcast isn't particularly interested in resolving it. I mean just an acknowledgement on the board, that they are aware of it, would help a little. And yep, for the ones I really care about, I'm also recording on a second, non-Comcast. DVR.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

Yeah, I had another one happen to me. Usually when I get this, it's a case of a show that's on multiple times and if one of those times is a conflict, I get this error. This time I got it on a normal (as in broadcast type) network. I didn't even realize it for a week or so, because it was one of those shows that I tape and then decide later if I care enough to watch.

I find it incredible that not only does this problem persist, but apparently Comcast isn't particularly interested in resolving it. I mean just an acknowledgement on the board, that they are aware of it, would help a little. And yep, for the ones I really care about, I'm also recording on a second, non-Comcast. DVR.

I have looked into this issue and can report that Comcast is aware of this problem and that there is a Motorola firmware fix scheduled for over the summer that addresses this.

Apologies that this issue exists as we know it is customer impacting.

Without getting too technical, the issue is related to the channel map (the channel lineup data) and the rate that the database is refreshed, updated and "cleaned up". The issue typically occurs on scheduled DVR recordings that are set on HD channels that are higher in the channel lineup.

Same for me. However, except for one time, Undercover Boss on CBS (I started this thread after that failed to record) all my cancelled recordings have been on cable channels. It isn't picky about what network the show is on.

I don't for one second buy the explanation from ComcastTed.

If "The issue typically occurs on scheduled DVR recordings that are set on HD channels that are higher in the channel lineup" explain to me how MY shows set up on NON-HD channels because at the time there were no hd channels for those networks were cancelled. Explain to me why my show was cancelled Sunday night when it was set up on a NON HD channel.

Of course Comcast is aware of the issue. We've been reporting it for a year and a half in this thread, which I started in October of 2010. People have called Comcast about this issue.

If there is a Motorola firmware fix and IF it is pushed out this summer and IF it works I will be impressed that it's only taken almost 2 years to resolve the issue instead of it taking longer.

What doesn't impress me is that is HAS taken this long to get an acknowledgement of the issue from Comcast (the post by ComcastTed is the first one made in this thread by an employee with a name in RED) and that it has taken this long for the "right" people to do something that will hopefully fix the issue.

Comcast employees must be authorized to post in the forum in an official capacity. Employees posting here have their names in red and are designated as employees. Names not in red are customers.

This is done to protect customers and for assurance that they are dealing with a Comcast employee.Non-Authorized Employees are allowed to post but cannot state they are employees nor can they allude to being employees.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

The symptoms can also vary based on the number of scheduled recordings and the amount of channels in the channel lineup.

The solution has been underway for some time. Apologies that it is taking as long as it is taking for the fix and apologies for responding to this thread so late.

In some cases the cancelled recordings were the only ones set up for a particular time slot. The latest one which was cancelled was the only thing set up for 1:30 am.

As for the number of scheduled recordings that should not even be a factor. No matter how many I set up I expect to it work and record ALL of them. That's what I'm paying for-the ability to record then watch whenever I choose to do so.

I do appreciate the info you provided.

Comcast employees must be authorized to post in the forum in an official capacity. Employees posting here have their names in red and are designated as employees. Names not in red are customers.

This is done to protect customers and for assurance that they are dealing with a Comcast employee.Non-Authorized Employees are allowed to post but cannot state they are employees nor can they allude to being employees.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

In some cases the cancelled recordings were the only ones set up for a particular time slot. The latest one which was cancelled was the only thing set up for 1:30 am.

As for the number of scheduled recordings that should not even be a factor. No matter how many I set up I expect to it work and record ALL of them. That's what I'm paying for-the ability to record then watch whenever I choose to do so.

I do appreciate the info you provided.

Thanks and agreed, it should be working as designed, a customer should not have to constantly monitor their DVR scheduled recordings to make sure that they work.

I was just adding some of the observations that were seen when the teams investigated the problem and why some customers may be seeing a variation of the described behavior.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

Thanks ComcastTeds for not only reading our posts, but actually doing something about it!

One of the very few times I've experienced true customer service from Comcast.

Kudos to you.

ComcastTeds wrote:

I have looked into this issue and can report that Comcast is aware of this problem and that there is a Motorola firmware fix scheduled for over the summer that addresses this.

Apologies that this issue exists as we know it is customer impacting.

Without getting too technical, the issue is related to the channel map (the channel lineup data) and the rate that the database is refreshed, updated and "cleaned up". The issue typically occurs on scheduled DVR recordings that are set on HD channels that are higher in the channel lineup.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

Thanks Ted for responding to this thread. It is good to finally see a response from Comcast. I can only tell you from my own experience, which is only with HD channels, that

sometimes this occurs when there are two programs scheduled to record at the same time, and one is cancelled by the system;

sometimes this occurs when there are two programs scheduled to record at the same time, and both are cancelled by the system;

sometimes this occurs when there is only one program scheduled to record and it is cancelled by the system;

sometimes this occurs when I am watching something on the DVR that has previously recorded and one or both are cancelled by the system;

sometimes this occurs when I am not watching anything and one or both are cancelled by the system.

In other words, I have been looking for a commonality (I am a systems analyst) and have yet to find one, from a user perspective.

Hope the firmware fix is the answer. When you call Comcast about this issue (as I have, and everyone else on this message board), you are told "bring in your DVR and we'll give you another one." I tried that the first couple of times it happened, but no longer bother since it was pretty easy for me to determine that it was not a hardware problem with the DVR itself. The lack of adequate customer service to this issue has been appalling.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

Hope the firmware fix is the answer. When you call Comcast about this issue (as I have, and everyone else on this message board), you are told "bring in your DVR and we'll give you another one." I tried that the first couple of times it happened, but no longer bother since it was pretty easy for me to determine that it was not a hardware problem with the DVR itself. The lack of adequate customer service to this issue has been appalling.

When it first happened to me, I did not exchange the box. So I thought it was a possiblity it was the box.

Since then, for various reasons, I've had to exchange boxes several times and am on my 3rd one since then and it has happened on all of them.

I long ago gave up trying to find a commonality.

Comcast employees must be authorized to post in the forum in an official capacity. Employees posting here have their names in red and are designated as employees. Names not in red are customers.

This is done to protect customers and for assurance that they are dealing with a Comcast employee.Non-Authorized Employees are allowed to post but cannot state they are employees nor can they allude to being employees.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

Add me to the list of people who have experienced this on non-HD channels.... in fact I don't even have HD service.The majority of the time, this happens on FNC, but last week it also happened on CBS. For me, it happens almost exclusively for shows in the 10 PM slot. (Not sure it happens more then, or if I I just happen to try to record more shows during that time slot).

SInce apparently Comcast knows the incidence of this problem (ie as in "higher incidences on HD channels"), can you tell us how common this is? Some of us here were beginning to feel like we were the only ones in the world to experience this).

Also add me to the list of people who say thank you for acknowledging this issue.

Re: Recording Cancelled By The System

I also found one time that the DVR let me have 3 programs scheduled to record at the same time and never got the pop up warning and so of course using the priority list it canceled the lowest priority program.